The Interpretation of Murder. - Jed Rubenfeld

Synopsis: Manhattan, 1909. On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first - and only - visit to the United States, a stunning débutante is found bound and struggled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tired to a chandelier in her parents' home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or to recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer's identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit, and lead them on a thrilling journey - into the darkest places of the city, and of the human mind.


Review

Well, where on earth do I start with this one? I picked this up on the recommendation of several members on a forum I regularly frequent, and I certainly haven't been disappointed; The Interpretation of Murder is a captivating novel filled with love, deception and murder. Sigmund Freud's only ever trip to the United States is one that has always confused biographers, as for the rest of his life he referred to American's as 'savages.' What happened to the genius on his travels? Rubenfeld in this novel delightfully weaves the threads of history and fiction together, to create us a clever answer.

From the moment that Freud steps down in the United States with his two companions Carl Jung and Sandor Ferenczi, to deliver a series of lectures at a prestigious university, in the hope his psychoanalytical ideas will propel across the country, mysterious forces work against him to stop him doing so. As Freud battles to dispel the rumours that threaten his work and his credibility, his disciple Dr Stratham Younger, has other problems. A stunning débutante is found whipped and bound in her home, with no recollection of the event, or no voice. Miss Acton must work with Younger to unravel the mystery of her lost voice, and as she does so, Stratham begins to realise that not everything is quite as it seems.

The Interpretation of Murder is a novel which is fiendishly clever, as the reader's suspicions are led one way, then another. The author creates a tension through all his characters; as accusations fly between them, we no longer know who to trust. It seems everyone has a secret to hide, as the plot unravels and the reader turns the pages in anticipation.

In addition, the novel tackles brilliantly, the way in which Sigmund Freud transformed our ideas of psychology and of the mind. As an A Level psychology student who has studied Freud, I found this to be enlightening in the way in which some of his techniques and ideas were explored and analysed. Of course, not everyone agrees with the great man's ideas; and as the divisions and cracks within Freud's personal camp begun to show throughout the novel, maybe the answers are closer than the psychoanalysts believe.

All in all a fantastic, engaging novel that holds the reader in suspense and anticipation, trying to second-guess Rubenfeld's plot twists and turns. It is a tribute to the way in which the book is written to know that when the reader feels like they have stumbled upon the answer, they must not be so sure, as the rug is swept from under our feet once more. Allow yourself to be taken on a journey into the darkest depths of New York city, and into the human mind.

5/5.